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. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. L. HBYWOOD & E. L. TAFT.

CHAIR.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEVI HEYWOOD AND EDWARD L. TAFT, OF GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO SAID HEYWOOD, SETH HEYWOOD, HENRY HEYWOOD, GEORGE HEYWOOD, ALVIN M. GREENWOOD, AMOS MORRELL, AND CHARLES HEYWOOD, ALL OF SAME PLAGE.

CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,543,'dated August 8, 1882.

Application filed May 5, 1882.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEVI HEYwooD and EDWARD L. TAFT, ot' Gardner, Worcester county, State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Chairs; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference bein g had to the accompanying sheets of drawings, making part of this specification.

This invention isin the nature of an improvement in chairs, and the invention consists in a chair, its frontlegs provided with side braces, which are hinged to the back legs, the back legs having metal brackets to support the rear of the seat-frame, and the front legs having metal sockets to receive the front brace or stretcher, and screws to secure said brace or stretcher therein, all constructed, arranged, and combined in the manner hereinafter described, whereby the seat is removably secured to the chair and the front legs may be folded so that the -bulk of the chair will be reduced for packing and transportation.

In the accompanying sheets of drawings, Figure 1 represents a front view of the chair elevated; Fig. 2, a side view of same; Fig. 3, a front view of chair knocked down and folded 5 Fig. 4, a side view, partly in section, of front sockets; Fig. 5, a side view of side braces and seat-brackets. These brackets being substantially alike, this figure serves to illustrate both,

4the application of the side-brace bracket being shown at the left-hand side of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a plan view of seat; Fig. 7, a view of front stretcher detached.

Similar letters of referenceindicatelike parts in the several figures.

This invention relates more particularly to what is known to the trade as knockdown chairs 7-that is,.chairs that may be readily taken apart, so that they may be reduced in bulk and be nested for the purpose of transportation. This has generally been done by packing the several parts of the chair together, the parts to, be assembled and glued in place on arriving at their destination. This, however, is at times inconvenient, for it not un- (No model.)

frequently happens that important parts of the chair miscarry, and it at all times necessitates a finishing-shop on the premises of the dealer, where the chair can be fitted, glued, and varnished. Then, again, it is desirable to transport wicker chairsthat is, chairs with wooden frames wrapped with strands of rattan, &c. Such chairs, by reason of their peculiar construction, are not only difficult to ship as knockdown chairs, but, since their designs are specially adapted to the ease and comfort of the occupant, they are, as a rule, unusually bulky, their size therefore precluding to a. great extenttheir shipment in large quantities.

To obviate these several diiculties, and at the same time produce a chair that can be knocked down for transportation, it being immaterial of what kind, size, or construction the chair may be, we fix to the back legs,A, of our chair, in any suitable manner, brackets B, with right-angle projections w at their outer ends; also, to the back legs,A,areixed brackets C. The side braces, D, of the chair are secured by permitting the projections b of said vbrackets C (see Fig. 5 and'left-hand side of Fig. 3) to enter into the side braces, D, these braces being also attached to the backlegs, A if it be a wickercovered chair, by wrappings c 0f strands if it be a chair of any other construction, by means of a metal band or hinge Y in place of these strands. When the side braces, D, are in this way secured to the back legs, A, they are substantially hinged to said legs, and can therefore fold in or out from the legs, as shown in Fig. 3. To the bracesD are also fixed the front legs, E, of the chair, and to these front legs are secured in any desired manner one or more metal sockets, F, through which sockets pass screws d. Into these sockets F are fitted the ends of the front brace or stretcher, G, of the chair, which brace or stretcher is held in the sockets by means of' the screws d, which pass through the sockets F and enter into the brace or stretcher, the under side of the sockets F being arched, as at e, to admit of the adjustment of the screws d. The seat-frame H has formed in its rear under side holesfand in its front under side holes g.

The chair may have arms J fixed toits back posts, A, extending to the seat-frame and fastened to it by screws h, which pass through the seat-frame and into the arms.

Now, when our chair is constructed substantiall y as hereinbefore described it is taken apart or knocked down by slackening the screws d until the ends of the brace or stretcher G can be removed from the sockets F, and by taking out the screws 7L, thereby detachin g the arms J from the seat, lifting the seat-frame H until the upper ends of the front legs, E, are detached from the holes g, into which they had been fitted, and the projections ay of the brackets B are clear from the holesf, into which holes they had also been received. The seatframe being now clear and removed from the legs and arms of the chair,'and the front brace or stretcher being also detached from the front legs,the t'rontlegs, by reason of the hinged side braces, D, can, with said braces, be folded in- Ward, one over the other, as shown in Fig. 3, or outward,as shownin dotted lines,Fig.3,as may be desired. The seat-frame H and front brace or stretcher, G, can then be laid in the back of the chair or between the back posts thereof, and one chair be placed within the other, the chairs by this nested arrangement occupying comparatively small space when compared with their unnested condition. Ifdesired, however, the seat-frame H and front brace or stretcher, G, can be nested separately and be shipped with the rest of the chair.

rlhe arms J may be attached to the back posts, A, of the chair so as to fold or not, as desired.- These arms, in their folded position, are shown in Fig. 3.

Now, to set up the chairfor use it is simply necessary to bring in proper position the front legs, E, tix the front brace or stretcher, G, within the sockets F by means of the screws d, tit the upper ends ot' the front legs, E, and the projections a of the brackets B into their respective holes g andfin the seat-frame H, screw the arms J to the seat-frame, and the chair is ready for use without further adjustment or manipulation.

Having now described ourinvention,wl1atwe claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A chair provided with front legs, side braces fixed thereto, rear legs to which said braces are hinged, metal brackets to support the seat-frame at its rear, metal sockets on the front legs, and a brace or stretcher removably secured by screws in said sockets, combined and arranged substantially as shown and described.

2. lu a chair, the combination of a removable seat with brackets B, fixed to the back legs, and hinged folding front legs, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The removable seat and the front legs, having side braces fixed thereto, combined with the rear legs, and brackets C and strands c c for hingiug the side braces and the connected front legs to adapt the chair to be folded or knocked down, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a chair, the combination of folding ing front legs, E, removable front brace or stretcher, G', brackets B, seat-frame H, and yielding arms J, all arranged, combined, and constructed as and for the purpose described.

LEVI HEYWOOD. EDWARD L. TAFT.

Witnesses:

THATGHER B. DUNN, CHAs. D. BURRAGE. 

